Georgia, the next Egypt?

Ongoing anti-government protests in the country of Georgia, located in the southern Caucasus mountains and astride the Black Sea, have resulted in confrontations with police and the arrest of oppositionists. Opponents of President Mikheil Saakashvili have promised to stage a “day of rage” on Thursday and disrupt a military parade planned for Friday to mark Georgian independence day.

Last Saturday, 10,000 people gathered in the capital city Tbilisi, demanding the resignation of Saakashvili. The event was organized by the “People’s Assembly,” formed from a coalition of opposition groups. Nino Burdzhanadze, former speaker of the parliament from 2001 to 2008 and a previous ally of Georgia’s president, made populist denunciations of the government, pointing to widespread social misery in the country.

“Two thirds of the population of Georgia lives below the poverty line, and Georgia occupies the first place among European states in terms of the level of child mortality,” she said.

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Supporters of Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili staged a triumphalist independence day parade in Tbilisi today – just hours after riot police had violently dispersed an anti-government protest on the same street.

The protest had hoped to prevent the parade, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the USSR, and called for Mr Saakashvili (pictured) to leave office.

Riot police attacked the rally with water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets. According to the Interior Ministry two people – a policeman and a protester – were killed, apparently when hit by a car that was fleeing the rally.

Opposition activists claim Mr Saakashvili’s government is authoritarian and seeks to suppress dissent. His reckless foreign policy which saw war erupt with Russia over South Ossetia in 2008 after Georgian troops attacked the area, is also unpopular.

But Mr Saakashvili said opposition to him was “organised outside the confines of the country” and “wanted violence and victims.”